Posts Tagged ‘idf’

One of the world’s leading human rights violators – the State of Israel – is in the headlines once again, positioning their military along the Gaza border while murdering innocent Palestinian civilians.

And yet again we see the blatant double-standards in Western media coverage: “Israel has a right to defend themselves from the Palestine aggressors who’ve been launching hundreds of rockets.” Every time we hear about Israel bombing Gaza, the reporter always – ALWAYS – frames it as if Israel is ‘reacting’ to Hamas’ attacks.

It’s as if history conveniently goes back just to the point when Israel ceased their last attacks and the Palestinians hadn’t. Always neglecting to point out how one side are firing makeshift bottle-rockets in the general vicinity of their targets (Palestine), while the other side uses state-of-the-art weaponry from one of the world’s biggest arsenals (Israel).

But never mind the fact that this battle is egregiously one-sided. It would be nice if the media were to at least acknowledge fault on both sides of the conflict, but we don’t even get that. Every single time, Israel is the good guy simply protecting itself and Palestine is the evil terrorist destroying the peace and threatening the world.

Some of this is due to Israel’s powerful PR campaign which has infiltrated much of the Western world. They’ve bought our support. Somehow we see them as victims and their enemies as bad. As well, it’s likely that there’s some inherent anti-Muslim sentiment tied up in there as well.

Cenk from the Young Turks offers an excellent analysis of this hypocrisy in the video released yesterday. It’s a little long, but well worth watching, especially if you’ve never been exposed to the alternate viewpoint that maybe the State of Israel isn’t exactly worthy of our support:

The best point that Cenk makes – one which so often gets ignored by the press – is that Israel simply refuses to make peace. They stifle the Palestinian’s peaceful attempts at diplomacy through the UN. They are unwilling to accept truces and ceasefires. They do not want the conflict to end.

See, Israel’s true agenda is expansion. For 70 years now, Jewish settlers have been stealing Palestinian land. They bulldoze Palestinian homes, burn their crops, bully their children, and forcefully evict them under the pretence of religious destiny.

And only under the fog of war – by having armed men fighting – can Israel continue to rob their neighbours of land without too much opposition from the International community. If Palestine was recognized by the UN as a state, or if Hamas militants stopped their acts of defiance, Israel would no longer have the pretence they need to further their institutional genocide.

So here’s the sad truth: even if Hamas were to stop firing rockets, it really wouldn’t matter. Israel would simply send their own troops into Gaza, disguise them as Palestinians, and have them fire upon their fellow Israelis. That way their necessary war stays perpetual, and Isreal’s illegal and immoral agenda remains on the table.

This leaves the only practical path to peace as a global awareness campaign. Once enough of the world’s people see Israel for what it is – a warmongering bully – international pressure will continue to mount against them. Then, just like with Apartheid in Africa, Israel will have to stop their campaign of wholesale racism and death if they wish to remain part of the modern world.

Freedom Flotilla II: 30 Canadians aboard the Tahrir are set to sail alongside 22 other ships, all on a humanitarian mission due for Gaza.

9 activists were killed last May during a similar Flotilla which sought to bring food and supplies for the beleaguered Palestinian people.

The Israeli Defense Force have begun preparations to stop the Flotilla, running drills that focus on intercepting and boarding large ships.

The hundreds of protesters taking part in this protest are very brave. They know full well the likelihood of making it to Gaza is slim, and that they might be arrested or killed just for trying. But to them, it’s a worthy cause.

As soon-to-be-Tahrir-passenger Kevin Neish says “the illegal blockade of Gaza is still in place.” Neish states that no matter what happens to him, the Palestinians have gone through “much, much worse, for years and years on end.”

Multilateral actions like these, even if they don’t prove immediately fruitful, still play an integral part in bringing attention to the plight of the Palestinian people.

Much as Apartheid came to an end in South Africa, Israel will be forced to stop their atrocities when the international community mounts enough pressure.